Fairies, togas and plenty of romance

-Marian actors will perform "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

-Marian actors will perform "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

November 20, 2008|VIRGINIA RANSBOTTOM Tribune Staff Writer

It may be cold outside, but the stage at Marian High School is heating up with the theater production "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Dressed in togas, sandals and plenty of fairy wings, theater students bring William Shakespeare's play to life amid the palace columns of Theseus and an enchanted forest near Athens. The complex, romantic farce involves couples whose romantic interests are already confused and complicated. When they enter the forest of fairies, romances get even more confused when Puck, the right-hand fairy of Oberon (the king of fairies), mixes up the situation further with a little cupid juice. Hermia is in love with Lysander, Helena loves Demetrius and the fairy queen loves Oberon. However, when the fairy rubs the juice in the eyes of those in midnight slumber, they wake to fall in love with the first person they see. "Puck is pretty mischievous and mixes things up for his own entertainment," said Alexa Gates, a glittering redhead, who plays the part in high-top tennis shoes. "But Puck has a good heart, so he makes it right in the end." Other visitors to the enchanted forest include Bottom the weaver and friends Snug, Snout, Quince and Flute, who want to rehearse their dreadful, yet hilarious interpretation of a play within the play. There's also Cobweb, Peaseblossom and Mustardseed, butterfly-winged fairies who lullaby their queen to sleep, only to wake and fall in love with a donkey that is really Bottom the weaver. "The lunatic, the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact," says Theseus. Tess Gunty wrote the music for the xylophone and keyboard. South Bend Civic Theatre education director Scot Purkeypile directs the play. Former drama director Troy Dobosiewicz is continuing his education. Showtime is at 7:30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday.Staff writer Virginia Ransbottom: vransbottom@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6344